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Protect the population
In the previous post, the rationale that seemed to justify censorship was to protect social cohesion. Is this the only way? Is it the best? The answer is no to both.
There is a key reason why hate speech was so successful in Myanmar: the population there was not used to/educated about the Internet. And without this education to distance oneself from the information received, the mind is extremely vulnerable.
Censorship is about externalising and centralising our discernment (cf Michel Serres on externalisation). It entrusts it to an intermediary: a social media, a publication, a government. Exempting oneself from the task of discernment is a form of acedia, the famous intellectual laziness referred to in the 7 deadly sins.
Censoring is infantilising the population, denying it the quality of an adult, assuming it incapable of discernment. It is appropriating the most potent of powers, that of mind control (see Brave New World). Favouring censorship over education to critical thinking allows a government/system to ensure its continuity no matter the cost to the population.
But the population’ interest is not necessarily to perpetuate the government/system.